Bend has gained a reputation as a “bike town.” It even has called itself Bike Town USA.
But is the title deserved?
Well, it depends who you ask.
Mountain Bike Action magazine calls Bend the top mountain biking town in the nation, saying the city “seems like it was founded just for mountain bikers.” It praises the expansive and well-maintained trail system, plethora of bike shops, and agreeable weather. A writer for TheActiveTimes.com adds even more flourish to that claim, writing, “Bend is what would happen if you had access to a magic mountain bike wand.”
With hundreds of miles of mountain bike trails and a multitude of professional and amateur bike races and competitions taking place in Bend, it is not a stretch to call the city a destination for recreational cyclists.
But what about the locals? And what do we really mean when we say that Bend is a “bike town”?
Biking by the numbers
“From where I’m sitting it’s the plethora of great recreational riding that makes Bend a ‘bike town,'” explains Central Oregon Trail Alliance Chairman Woody Starr. “If you were to draw a circle around Bend representing a one hour drive to a trail head, I’m told there is over 1,200 miles of trails.”
There are no firm figures on the total number of recreational versus commuter cyclists in Bend, but there are some ballpark measurements. Starr estimates—based on counters placed along several popular trails a few years ago that measured 9,000 to 12,000 riders between May 31 and September 1—that the total number of recreational riders is “in the neighborhood of over 100,000.”
That number of recreational bikers, however, dwarfs “functional” bikers—those who commute to work or around town by two wheels.
A couple times a year, the Bend Metropolitan Planning Organization does a pedestrian and bike count, stationing either live volunteers or automated counters at popular thoroughfares across town. During the recent January count, volunteers stationed at the Colorado vehicle bridge, the Columbia bridge, the Galveston bridge, and the Franklin bridge from 3:30 to 5:30 pm on the January 15—the only weekday on which cyclists were counted separately from pedestrians—marked a total of 87 cyclists. While that number obviously isn’t representative of every bike commuter in the city, it’s hard to imagine the number of regular, daily bike commuters is much higher than that. A 2015 DHM Research survey commissioned by the City of Bend found that just 2 percent of respondents said they get around by bike “most days of the week.” That’s down 1 percent from the responses in DHM’s 2013 survey.
Put in perspective, that’s higher than the national average—a paltry 0.5 percent, according to the Portland Department of Transportation—but lower than Portland’s bike commuting rate of 6 percent.
So, why don’t more people commute by bike?
“This is the important question we should be asking,” says local attorney Christopher Heaps, who recently joined the board of Bend Bikes, a grassroots group dedicated to promoting bicycling and improving bicycling conditions. “The most important reason is the same everywhere, not just in Bend: Many people do not feel safe riding the routes between work and home. But Bend has even fewer bike commuters than you would expect based on the number of people who ride for fun and exercise on the roads in the area.” The biggest factor in bicycle safety is giving riders a space that is buffered from cars—that is, a bike lane. And while Bend does have a growing bicycle infrastructure, the speed of that growth is limited by the City’s budget.
Take, for instance, Bear Creek Road on Bend’s east side. The road, which starts to feel pretty country once past Purcell Boulevard, is a major connector for bike commuters in SE Bend looking to take advantage of the recently constructed bike lane known as the Franklin-Riverside project. However, heading east on Bear Creek, the bike lane stops suddenly a few blocks after 10th Street. There is no shoulder and cars are frequently traveling faster than the posted 35 mile-per-hour limit. Cyclists are forced to ride the fine, and invisible, line between a gravelly ditch on the right and speeding traffic on the left.
“More bike-friendly road infrastructure is perhaps the most important thing for Bend right now, and I hope we see more projects like the Riverside-Franklin project,” Heaps says. “As far as I understand it, Bend is typical of most local governments in that it has to look hard to find the necessary funding for projects like these, so perhaps that’s something the community can start focusing more attention on.”
All told, Bend’s roads include about 160 miles of bike lanes (not including bike lanes on highways 97 and 20, which are managed by the Oregon Department of Transportation), which means that there are likely more miles of single track trails in the area than there are bike lanes. A website dedicated to mountain biking in Oregon, ormtb.com, claims that there are about 300 miles of “continuously linked, legally sanctioned, single track trails” accessible from Bend’s west side. On the other hand, depending what side of Bend a commuter starts from, there may be no bike lanes at all.
A look at the Bend Urban Area Bicycle and Pedestrian System Plan Map (circa April 2014) depicts a colorful network of bicycle lanes and shared roadways, but it also shows a web that is far from completely interconnected. Dotted lines on the map indicate the site of future lanes and roadways—like that stretch of Bear Creek Road past 10th Street—and are roughly as plentiful as existing bike lanes and shared roadways.
City Councilor Nathan Boddie gets it. Though he lives on the west side, he says he bike commutes to his day job as a doctor at St. Charles, on the east side, weather permitting. Still, he recognizes that, as a pretty hardcore recreational cyclist who loves being on his bike, he’s willing to face more obstacles than the average commuter.
“Unless someone lives right next to their job, commuting involves riding from one part of Bend to another. Sadly, our town is sliced up in a very bicycle unfriendly way by roads and traffic corridors,” Boddie explains. “If we want to encourage more people to ride, which will keep more cars off the road and encourage a healthy population, then we need to develop bicycle corridors similar to Portland.”
What needs to change? “To me, the term ‘bike town’ means that the average person is just as likely as not to get on a bike to go somewhere local,” says local attorney Heaps. “By that definition, Bend is not a bike town, yet. But I think people want it to be.”
Heaps says he rides around town frequently, but admits he has it easy. His life is set up for easy bike commuting—he made the decision to live just a mile from his office and owns all-season bike gear. What he wants to know is what would make it easier for others to commute by bike, and how to transform that desire for a more bike-friendly Bend into tangible action.
“I think the City of Bend is asking all the right questions; namely, how can we encourage more folks to choose active, healthy transportation,” answers Lucas Freeman, president of Bend Bikes. “Bend will only succeed in implementing some of its grandest ideas for change if it can better engage its populace regarding the benefits of active transportation: lower transportation infrastructure costs, increased community health, better air quality, a connection to the outside world, and loads of others.”
Bend Bikes is working to change that mentality, but it’s an uphill climb. To get there, it takes a two-pronged approach—promoting a bicycle commuting culture through activities such as family-friendly community rides, and also helping City staff and policy makers understand the state of bicycle infrastructure in Bend.
While it’s easy to say, “If you build it, they will ride,” it’s not entirely accurate. Barring extreme measures such as a massive gas tax, it will take more than bike lanes to get people interested in commuting on two wheels.
“When we hosted a ride last year with four city councilors in attendance, we rode from downtown on Franklin/Riverside along Drake Park. It was a real eye-opener for some,” Freeman says. “We went from riding along with no bike lane and having cars squeeze uncomfortably close, to riding in a buffered bike lane. World class bicycle infrastructure goes from being nice-but-unnecessary, to being required after it is experienced first-hand.”
Translation: Who do we need to get on a bike to get some lanes around here?
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This article appears in Mar 4-11, 2015.
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For a small town it’s not that welcoming for bikes on city streets. Same for pedestrians, since all of a sudden the side walk you are on just stops, requiring you to walk on the street
My family and I moved to Bend in July of 2014. Part of our decision was the improved bike infrastructure compared with Charleston, SC the town we moved from. We live on the west side and, when the weather is amenable, I ride my young daughters to school in the Old Mill area on my cargo bike. I find the cycling lanes to meet the barest level of safety for that ride, but the fact is I am hyper vigilant when I ride on the streets. I have to bear in mind at all times while riding that the smallest mistake by a person driving a car could be fatal to me and my girls. The fact is, to feel safe, the cycling lanes need to be physically separated from the roads.
The stroke of genius would be for those who lay out bike lanes to abandon the concept of cars and bikes traveling the same lines of travel. Bike “lanes”, and for that matter, pedestrian pathways, should follow lines of travel that your average twelve year old on a bike would find – cut throughs, shortcuts, and pathways that have nothing to do with roads. Eagle, Colorado recently created “singletrack sidewalks” that are the perfect example of what we need- meandering trails that carry runners and bikes completely separate from roads. Bend is geographically compact enough that, with the right trails, a cycling or running commuter can get where they want to go without feeling at risk.
my bicycle has been my primary form of transportation since 1982. i don’t think there’s a single answer, but i still ride according the the principles of john forester’s “effective cycling”. i don’t ride on the white line and yes, i take the lane if the lane isn’t wide enough to share.
The east-west corridor disconnect across Bend has been troublesome for decades, and it is NOT enjoyable to ride from someplace like downtown to, say, the hospital for a number of reasons besides the discontinuity of bike lanes. You also to contend with: 1) badly chip-sealed/ patched roads; 2) debris and rocks from winter sanding in the bike lanes that only gets swept once or maybe twice, seasonally; 3) storm drains/manhole covers that are at much lower elevations from the layers of asphalt overlays and, lastly 4) striped lanes that are not even a basic three feet wide (such as along Penn/Neff Road up and over the north flank of Pilot Butte).
So, its not always the best consistency in Bend, but its better than some other U.S. towns, I guess.
I completely disagree with Mr. Heaps. “More bike-friendly road infrastructure is perhaps the most important thing for Bend right now…” Give me a break. How about affordable housing? Living wages? Real jobs? Sustainable growth? Bend is becoming gentrified, both economically and culturally. “Yuppie town USA” is more like it. I am one permanent job away from moving to Prineville and leaving Bend behind – having good bike access isn’t going to mean squiddly to me, because I won’t be able to afford to live here in 10 years anyway.
I just don’t see all that many people on bikes summer or winter. It makes people feel good to be associated with being outed as a bike town but its smoke and mirrors. Most folks ride around town with 4wheels not 2.
The missing piece is the drivers, and the combination of drivers that don’t know how to drive around cyclists, combined with the poor infrastructure that places cyclists closer to cars. I ride nearly every day, unless there’s ice, for over 4 years in Bend. Prior to that I commuted a total of 14 years in Eugene, Corvallis, and Portland. Too many drivers in Bend are ignorant of the laws and drive inattentively and a few outright aggressively. Of course the vast majority are very respectful, but for a novice commuter, it really only takes one or two negative interactions with a driver for them to throw in the towel. The first and easiest thing that would help cycling in Bend would be actual enforcement of the laws with drivers.
In response to Chris Halndel, when I said that, “More bike-friendly road infrastructure is perhaps the most important thing for Bend right now,” it was in response to a question about how Bend can encourage more people to ride around down. I did NOT mean that more bike-friendly road infrastructure is the single most important policy priority for Bend, only within the context stated. I agree that more affordable housing and better-paying jobs are critical for Bend and should be top priorities. So I don’t think there is any disagreement.
–Chris Heaps
March 6, 2015
To the Editor of The Source,
Thanks to The Source for your March 5th cover article encouraging more bike commuting in Bend. Commute Options is very interested in this perspective. Better bike commuting takes a balance of Engineering, Education, Enforcement and Encouragement. Bike commuting benefits our parking and roadway system and encourages a healthy lifestyle.
Commute Options is working with the city of Bend, the Downtown Bend Business Association, Parks and Recreation District, Bend Bikes, Bicycle Resource of Bend, the Deschutes County Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, Bend La Pine Schools, OSU-Cascades and others who are very supportive of improving our bicycle infrastructure. We also work in many areas beyond bike lanes that would make Bend more bike friendly, like:
• Bike parking
• Bike share
• Safe Routes to School http://www.commuteoptions.org/program/safe-routes-to-school
• School siting
• Bicycle Diversion classes for adults
• DMV and other driver awareness
• Incentives for bike commuting http://www.drivelessconnect.com
• Active Transportation awareness campaigns and videos
• Bikes on buses
• Limited and expensive (car) parking- to encourage more commuting options
We also represent Central Oregon on the Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. Often times the experience is better than the expectation. So give bike commuting a try. More people riding = more funding for infrastructure and safety.
Thanks, The Commute Options Team:
Jeff Monson
Kim Curley
Brian Potwin
I have been biking to work along the Franklin/Riverside system of bike lanes, shared lanes, since it was redesigned. Before the improvements I would commute the narrows of Greenwood between Brooks and East Third st. While biking through the Franklin underpass this morning (going 25mph according to my bike computer), I felt the headlights of an incoming truck approach fast I thought I was going to be hit before the driver pulled into the oncoming lane to pass me in the center of the narrow underpass. The irony of his speeding really set in as the driver sat at the same red light with me moments afterward.
This street’s redesign represents some very good work done by Commute Options and the City of Bend to increase the safety of biking in our city. It is unfortunate that some drivers are willing to pass over double lines at high speeds to make all that work seem in vain.
Bend is not bike city USA. Power in numbers, there is not a lot of bikers out there, so cars (and the many trucks) don’t know how to react. Un-educated drivers and bikers alike is evident – particularily around roundabouts and when and how to take a lane. Disconnected neighborhoods don’t help either. Lets face it, its cold in the mornings, discouraging bike commuting.
I commute daily, have in other cities, and felt safer biking downtown pdx in rush hour than i do around bend.
Educate, enforce drivers on cell phones (huge problem!) and bikers alike. Share-the-road concept is not there yet, but its getting better, I think…
Bike lanes are needed in many paces, but a bigger issue is sprawl. In older parts of Bend, destinations are close to each other making these areas more walkable, more bikeable. Go to an area that was developed in the last 30 or 40 years, and the picture changes. The east side – apart from private homes – is mostly parking lots. The north end of Bend is much the same.
This layout creates distance very quickly. Overbuilt parking lots are wasting a lot of space, though, and they never seem to fill to capacity. Real estate being as valuable as it is, perhaps it’s time for the powers that be to re-think certain ordinances.